| Technically, you will be insured
from the inception date of your income protection insurance policy. However, income
protection insurance providers usually insist on an initial exclusion period when
you start up your policy. This means that for a certain period of time you must
keep up payments but you will not be able to make a claim. In this way fraudsters
are prevented from taking out income protection insurance after they already know
of an impending unemployment. If, however, you are transferring your income protection
insurance policy from one provider to another then you will usually be granted
an exclusion free transfer so that you can enjoy the benefits of continuous cover.
After the initial exclusion period you are free to claim whenever you like,
and will be eligible for benefits once you have ridden out the initial deferred
period. When you set up your policy you will be required to state your preferred
deferred period- it is simply the amount of time you must wait before you receive
payments in the event of a claim.
Once you have qualified for benefit payment you will generally receive monthly
payments, in arrears. Every UK insurance company differs, but most will only allow
a maximum number of monthly benefit payments for each particular unemployment
or disability claim, usually 12 or 24. Insurers will have required you to specify
the number of payments you will require when you first set up your policy. The
longer this period, the more dear your insurance premiums will generally be.
After you have made one claim on your policy you will be free to make another
as soon as you have returned to work for a specified number of days. Every insurance
policy is different, so make sure you check your small print to find out exactly
when you will be eligible to claim.
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